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Animals quit fields for the city ¿good life¿

BRITAIN??S wild mammals are abandoning an increasingly sterile countryside in search of the good life offered by towns and cities, a study has found.

Research by the Mammals Trust UK has found that as intensive farming drives species from their traditional homes, many are adapting to an urban lifestyle. They are moving into towns, gardens and parks to find the food and shelter that is no longer available in rural areas.

The study found that while some species, including hedgehogs, voles, shrews, dormice and hares, are generally declining in rural areas, their populations are rising in towns, cities and suburbs. Brown hares, for example, have been spotted in built-up areas of Glasgow and other cities.

The study also showed that even species whose populations are stable or growing in rural areas, such as deer and badgers, are following the trend.